DdCno1
@DdCno1@beehaw.org
- Comment on AAA - Analytical Anti-Aliasing 1 day ago:
I was in a different camp back then. Our CRT TV was high quality and produced a very sharp image, especially with the 3D consoles of the '90s hooked up to it through SCART. Similarly, the first CRT monitor I ever owned was an excellent Sony Trinitron with a flat image, no blur, no perceivable scanlines (I used it for a decade, because I was unable to find flat screen displays that came close). That’s why I felt absolutely no love for those scanline filters and didn’t get their appeal until many years later, when I realized that the art of most '80s and '90s games was intended for highly flawed CRTs. By that point, those simple filters had evolved into complex shaders that are much more accurate too.
A couple of years ago, I configured PS1 emulator DuckStation into what a fictional (and entirely impossible) “PS1 Pro”. Extremely high rendering resolution in the 6K range to remove any hint of jagged edges, with a scanline shader and some carefully tuned bloom on top to simulate the phosphor glow. I kept textures unfiltered, but enabled settings that fix the console’s unstable geometry and texture distortion. I then got a modified version of Gran Turismo 2 with enhanced draw distance (and some bug fixes). The effect is remarkable: The original art is preserved, but enhanced, there’s remarkable clarity, yet the scanlines and bloom still create the illusion of a high res CRT. It looks amazing.
- Comment on AAA - Analytical Anti-Aliasing 1 day ago:
Exception: Old pixel art that was meant to be smoothed out by blurry CRT monitors and TVs. Yes, I know those are not algorithms, but still.
- Comment on Who wants a stretchable screen? 1 day ago:
This could end up working better than foldable devices. No creases to worry about.
- Comment on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl | Review Thread 1 day ago:
A PS5 port might come later. Microsoft execs have repeatedly (including recently) talked about bringing Xbox games to PlayStation - and it’s not just talk: Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves were eventually ported over after some timed exclusivity. This doesn’t guarantee a port and there is no official word on this game yet, but still.
It might take a year though - or longer. The upshot is that by that point, most serious bugs should have been fixed. The downside is that you’ll miss out on the PC modding scene. Older games in the series have one of the best modding communities out there and I hope they’ll refine and expand this game as well.
Until then, you might want to take a look at Chernobylite. It’s a smaller title, but clearly inspired by the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.
- Comment on PS5 Pro owners complain that some Pro-enhanced games look worse [VGC] 2 days ago:
Every acronym should be run past a bunch of ten year olds. No idea how they thought this was a good idea, but then again, they greenlit Concord at about the same time.
- Comment on There is an Easter egg on the Half-Life 2 Anniversary Documentation webpage 2 days ago:
Happy to help! Did you find a headset that is attractive to you?
- Comment on Valve must address swastikas and other hate on Steam, writes US senator in a letter to Gabe Newell 2 days ago:
Consider reading the article.
- Comment on at this point it just feels vindictive 3 days ago:
Huh, I must have missed this release. Maybe you’re right.
- Comment on Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of November 17th 3 days ago:
The class with the flamethrower is so much fun in Halls of Torment.
- Comment on Meta hit with $840 million EU fine for 'abusive' Facebook Marketplace ad practices 3 days ago:
It’s a so-called “soft” paywall that doesn’t always trigger. It’s common for these to engage after a certain number of articles have been read by the same user. Another method is for a paywall to only engage after an article has gained traction, but depending on how users got there (people coming from Google search results are often exempt).
- Comment on at this point it just feels vindictive 3 days ago:
Why settle for 60? Even a mid-range GPU should be able to render a PC port at 180 fps by now.
- Comment on at this point it just feels vindictive 3 days ago:
It’s far less important now than it was a in the past. Gran Turismo 7 “only” sold 5.5 million copies, which is barely more than GT5 Prologue, a glorified paid demo. Even the very first game in the series was almost twice as successful.
Compare this to other current Playstation IPs: God of War: Ragnarök shipped 15 million copies, The Last of Us 2 and Spider-Man 2 at least 10 million each and Ghost of Tsushima 13 million.
- Comment on at this point it just feels vindictive 3 days ago:
Highly unlikely, given how much the game is built around Playstation as a brand, IPs that are on their console and the capabilities of the PS5 controller.
- Comment on There is an Easter egg on the Half-Life 2 Anniversary Documentation webpage 4 days ago:
I’ll preface this by warning you that the below text is far too long, contains far too many parentheses and plenty of very personal opinions on the subject. It’s also more of a slightly edited flow of consciousness thing, so the structure isn’t the best.
Index is a costly high-end device for enthusiasts: Complex to set up, requiring external laser emitters being placed high up in the room and ensuring coverage of the play area; depending on your room’s layout and what you’re playing with the headset, you need to purchase additional emitters. Sitting for example is fine with two, as is if you’re mainly facing only two directions - but if you’re moving around a lot, you’ll want at least one more lighthouse. I wouldn’t really want to use this kind of system with less than three base stations. As you can see from this issue alone, it’s very much not a plug in and play kind of device, since even once you’ve figured out the hardware side, you’ll still spend a not insignificant amount of time configuring the software, often for individual games. The high refresh rate also means that hardware requirements are not exactly low (since you really do not want frame rate drops in VR - it’s 144 Hz or bust with this device, unless you like to lose the contents of your stomach in an unpleasant fashion) and the screens are starting to show their age in terms of color accuracy. While this is still one of the best options out there due to the groudbreaking controllers alone (which were tailor-made for HL Alyx), I wouldn’t recommend it as a first VR headeset, unless you take apart every device you’re using. Also keep in mind that it’s frequently sold without the necessary accessories second-hand, which might make it appear deceptively cheap. Always buy a VR headset with controllers and (if it requires them) base stations, since both are much harder to find on their own.
Look for a headset with inside-out tracking (which means no external cameras, sensors or emitters). [Edit: This advice turns out to be problematic in hindsight.] These are easier to set up and provide 90% of the experience at a fraction of the cost and complexity, with the added bonus of being quickly able to set up the headset in almost any location. Even then, the tracking will impress you.
In the past, I frequently recommended WMR headsets, since these are cheap on the used market, have excellent high-res displays (some even OLED), yet low hardware requirements and are extremely easy to set up. Five minutes from unboxing to working roomscale that will blow your socks off, at the most. Tracking is excellent for the headset and good enough for the controllers, but not outstanding - and the controllers don’t support fancy finger tracking due to their age. The problem is that Microsoft has sunsetted them after years of neglect, with the latest version of Windows already dropping support, so while I’ll continue to use my Samsung Odyssey Plus and it’s fantastic OLED screens for as long as it’s working (I configured Windows to only download security updates and ignore the feature update that would render it inoperable, staying with version 23H2, which should give me time until November of 2025), I can’t really recommend this platform to others anymore.
I have to admit, I haven’t paid that much attention to VR hardware since I bought the Samsung, because I’m really only an occasional VR user and it’s perfect for this. VR supplements normal gaming, but it’s not a replacement, in my eyes at least. VR gaming is a fundamentally different experience, since you are moving around, yet are essentially in a closed-off environment, which can be difficult if you have other people around you. It’s also much more of a commitment. You need to make space, put on a headset, make sure controllers are charged (and the headset itself if it’s not wired), inform people living with you not to burst into the room, since it can result in either accidents or heart attacks or both (I’m only slightly exaggerating, but you do NOT want to suddenly get touched when you are fully immersed).
Facebook is effectively dominating the market thanks to having invested astonishing sums of money into it (at least compared to prior to the LLM boom), to the point that some people think that “Quest” is a term for all VR headsets (Kleenex problem) or aren’t even aware of any alternatives. The Quest 3 in its two main variants (and storage subvariants) is a competent piece of hardware, no doubt, capable of both decent standalone VR (best for media consumption and exclusives) and PCVR, with good screens and solid controllers at a highly competitive (= highly subsidized dumping) price. Even the older Quest 2 still holds up and remains well supported for now. The problem is that you’re inviting a Facebook device littered with cameras and microphones into your home, a device that needs to create a 3D scan of your room in order for its inside-out tracking to function. Sure, Microsoft isn’t exactly clean in this regard either and their headsets required this as well, they at least never abused this highly invasive capability of their hardware standard (probably because they, unlike Facebook, didn’t build the devices and only licensed the tech to manufacturers). While you are not required to create a Facebook account to use their headsets anymore (you can just have a separate Quest account only for VR), I have no doubts they are doing whatever they want with the data they are collecting, regardless of user agreements and laws. It’s also worth mentioning that Facebook/Meta are just as guilty of ending support of older hardware, with the first Quest being essentially a paperweight at this point.
What else is there? The Pico 4 Ultra is the most relevant competitor to the Quest, with hardware that can more than keep up, no Facebook data-leeching (instead it’s ByteDance of TikTok fame data-leeching - I can’t decide what’s worse…) and the same ability to function both in standalone mode and tethered to a PC. You aren’t getting those juicy exclusives though and there is no cheaper option like the Quest S, nor as much of a thriving second-hand market. If privacy is of concern, it’s just as nightmarish and since it’s no better of a deal while lacking interesting games, it’s a pass. If you’re in the US, they aren’t selling it to you anyway.
I started this comment out by recommending you to pick an inside-out headset, but the problem is that there aren’t many options left now that the WMR ecosystem is dead. As good as the Meta headsets are, they are primarily standalone headsets and by nature compromised when used with PCs (higher hardware requirements, compression reducing image quality, stability issues). The old Oculus headsets are all using cameras for tracking, so that’s a no as well with Facebook owning the company.
This leaves us back where we began. Maybe you actually have to use a headset with external tracking if this privacy issue I’m basing most of my dilemma is a priority in your eyes (without knowing whether you actually care, although in this community the chance is fairly high). If you’re fine with complex hardware and software, the tracking tech that the Valve Index is based on was first brought to market with the HTC Vive, developed jointly by Valve and HTC. Its screens and controllers are outdated, but still functional and it’s not expensive used. The Vive Pro has what looks like OLED displays that are identical in terms of specs to my Samsung, which makes it easy to recommend as a sort of in-between, if you’re fine with not having the latest controllers - which you could source from the Valve Index, but at that point, you’re not saving any money anymore.
Playstation VR2 remains an option. It’s PC compatible through an official adapter, but limited in terms of features (the neat stuff like eye-tracking remains console-exclusive) and too expensive unless you already have it for console. Pimax is another high-end alternative, but support isn’t exactly the best.
To be honest, I can’t really provide the best advice other than passing my confusion and frustration over to you. I apologize, but I hope that at least some of this is helpful.
- Comment on Four Dead In Fire As Tesla Doors Fail To Open After Crash 4 days ago:
Teslas are among the safest cars on the road by all metrics. It’s just that they get the most press out of all EVs, because they are 1) sort of a poster child for electric vehicles due to how influential the Model S was and 2) due to that idiot at the helm of the company receiving constant attention from the press.
- Comment on There is an Easter egg on the Half-Life 2 Anniversary Documentation webpage 4 days ago:
If you’re actually curious about PC-VR, get a used headset for cheap and dual boot. Activate Windows with a tool instead of a license. Linus Torvalds won’t come to your house and disembowel you for getting a taste of the dark side. Maybe play a flatscreen game or two that’s not running on Linux yet (or ever) while you’re at it.
I think everyone should see Google Earth VR at least once, for example. It’s an astonishing experience. Like with Half-Life 2, it’s a totally different thing compared to looking at it on a screen. Scale is the big factor and it’s so perfect in regards to both, you will catch yourself trying to touch virtual objects, lean on virtual walls, duck under virtual obstacles. Hardware requirements, just like with HL-2 VR, are very low, so the barrier of entry is practically nil. I first experienced it on a GTX 960, which is most likely surpassed by integrated graphics by now.
- Comment on There is an Easter egg on the Half-Life 2 Anniversary Documentation webpage 4 days ago:
This scene alone is a totally different experience in VR, by the way. Far more intimidating of an interaction.
- Comment on Thinking of starting a little beehaw minehut server for minecraft what version should I go with? (java) 5 days ago:
Wouldn’t it be more in the spirit of this community to use a free and open source alternative to Minecraft like Classicube?
github.com/ClassiCube/ClassiCube
I discovered this one recently. As the name implies, it’s a reverse-engineered clone of early versions of the game. It has extremely low hardware requirements, which allow the client to run on virtually anything.
Here’s a list of supported server software:
www.classicube.net/server/host/
If you use MCGalaxy, then players will even be able to join your servers through their web browser.
- Comment on Large language models not fit for real-world use, scientists warn — even slight changes cause their world models to collapse 5 days ago:
As such, it raises concerns that AI systems deployed in a real-world situation, say in a driverless car, could malfunction when presented with dynamic environments or tasks.
This is currently happening with driverless cars that use machine learning - so this goes beyond LLMs and is a general machine learning issue. Last time I checked, Waymo cars needed human intervention every six miles. These cars often times block each other, are confused by the simplest of obstacles, can’t reliably detect pedestrians, etc.
- Comment on Four Dead In Fire As Tesla Doors Fail To Open After Crash 5 days ago:
It’s best to use specialized tools for this. A knife this small is basically useless.
- Comment on Threads might get ads early next year 5 days ago:
If you think the type of person who signs up for a Facebook product will flock over to the “real” fediverse the moment they are seeing ads (which they are most likely seeing everywhere else on the Internet, since this kind of low-information user is usually not even aware of the possibility of blocking ads), then I got a bridge to sell to you.
- Comment on Donald Trump Team Plans to Cancel Biden's $7,500 Tax Incentive On EVs 5 days ago:
Also wars, future pandemics, any kind of global cooperation that depends on the White House not being a madhouse, which is a lot.
- Comment on Four Dead In Fire As Tesla Doors Fail To Open After Crash 5 days ago:
And make sure it comes with a seat belt cutter.
- Comment on Tesla Cybertruck Becomes Instant 'Tourist Magnet' After Breaking Down On Side Of The Road 1 week ago:
This paragraph is the most ChatGPT of paragraphs:
As Tesla continues to refine its products, it’s crucial to address these concerns and ensure the reliability of its vehicles. The abandoned Cybertruck incident serves as a reminder that even the most innovative technologies can encounter setbacks, emphasising the importance of rigorous testing and quality assurance.
- Comment on Starlink's paperwork to enter India under consideration • The Register 1 week ago:
I’m guessing they’ll comply with India’s censorship demands in order to not get locked out of a large and potentially lucrative market. The fact that state governments can also demand ISP follow their own censorship rules might make things a bit more complicated:
- Comment on Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of November 10th 1 week ago:
It also worked exceptionally well in The Death of Stalin. I think this is just part of a general shift for media set in Eastern Europe.
- Comment on Period tracking app refuses to disclose data to American authorities 1 week ago:
This reminds me: In countries like Russia and China, it’s not unusual for police to just randomly stop people and search their phones, at which point even locally stored data isn’t safe anymore. This could happen in America as well.
- Comment on ‘It gets more and more confused’: can AI replace translators? 1 week ago:
Except that I know first-hand that German government institutions are already using this exact tool in order to make up for the chronic lack of translators. They are translating texts into languages they don’t speak, which means there’s no going over the output to correct for mistakes.
- Comment on ‘It gets more and more confused’: can AI replace translators? 1 week ago:
That’s a very good answer.
If I’m getting this right, this was a novel that you perhaps mentioned to your loved one, but a language barrier prevented them from reading it. They then suggested the use of an LLM to translate it, which you used as foundation to build upon. If I may ask, which story did you translate (it has to be good if you spent this much work on it) and which LLM did you use?
I can’t see anything wrong with this. I’ve used this kind of approach using all sorts of machine translation tools going back over 20 years (not for entire books though). Let the computer do its thing, then fix mistakes - but this was always noncommercial, private use for myself, friends and relatives, as well as the occasional friendly online community. Although, I’ve also done entirely manual work, with no machine translation at all in situations when I wanted the best possible quality or where complexity and nuance made anything else impossible - like with a long list of “whisper jokes” from Nazi Germany, subversive jokes that people told each other under the punishment of death that require a ton of context no translation tool could possibly have.
- Comment on ‘It gets more and more confused’: can AI replace translators? 1 week ago:
Did you inform your readers that most of the translation was done by the LLM.